Leaders of the Los Angeles union movement and at least 70 civil rights organizations led by CHIRLA and CARECEN demonstrated against the nomination of Jim McDonnell as the new chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
The Coalition for Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Central American Resource Center, the SEIU USWW and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration expressed their “deep concern” about the appointment of Jim McDonnell.
The anti-McDonnell rally came before the five-member Public Safety Committee voted 4-1 in favor of McDonnell becoming the new leader of the nation’s third-largest police department.
The votes in favor were from councilors Mónica Rodríguez (District 7), Curren Price Jr., (District 9) John Lee (District 12) and Traci Park (District 14). The only vote against was Hugo Soto-Martinez (District 13)
Following this vote, Jim McDonnell’s fate will be decided soon at the full Los Angeles City Council.
A curriculum that is not positive for immigrants
They highlighted McDonnell’s history of transferring nearly 3,000 immigrants to ICE when he was chief of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office (LASD), leading to widespread family separations, and called for the passage of a sanctuary ordinance to protect immigrants in Los Angeles. Angels.
Indeed, under McDonnell’s administration, LASD transferred 1,007 people to ICE in 2016; 1,223 in 2017 and 945 in 2018, according to the report by Shadi Kardan, from the Los Angeles County Office of the Inspector General. No one could say how many of those transfers ended in deportation.
Activists emphasized the need for a police chief who respects all residents and called on Mayor Karen Bass to ensure Los Angeles remains a “Sanctuary City,” as well as urging City Council members to reject his appointment and defend the rights of immigrants.
“We are sad and disappointed with the appointment of Jim McDonnell” to lead the police,” said Martha Arévalo, director of CARECEN, on the south steps of the city’s City Hall. “He, when he was sheriff of Los Angeles County, supported policies that caused more than 3,000 people to be transferred to ICE and thousands of families to be separated by federal authorities.”
Arévalo expressed that this history and curriculum that McDonnell has “is not something positive for the migrant community,” which is why he called on local authorities to commit to the safety of the migrant community.”
One of those Angelenos transferred to ICE under McDonnell was Luis “George” López, a resident of South Los Angeles for 39 years.
In August 2018, a judge had ordered López’s release following a violation of his probation, but instead of returning home, the Sheriff’s Department transferred him to the immigration detention center in Adelanto, California.
López was imprisoned for 19 months, fighting his deportation, until attorneys from the Esperanza Immigrants’ Rights Project and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Southern California Foundation secured his release based on his immunocompromised system and high risk of contract Covid-19
Pressure for the ordinance
After stating that the community endorsed, supported and put its trust in McDonnell in 2014, David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union – United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW), said that “that trust was broken, when he decided to support to ICE, under the administration [de Donald] Trump.”
“He transferred thousands of Angelenos to ICE, here in Los Angeles. He also went against unions by opposing SB-54 that turned California into a sanctuary state for immigrants,” he added.
Those actions, in and of themselves, Huerta said, violated the trust that the workers placed in Jim McDonnell.
“The public trusts the police and the police are supposed to act as a public resource to enforce law and order so that law-abiding residents can live their lives,” he added. “But. How can the police fulfill that role when the police chief has a history of being hostile toward a large portion of the population of Los Angeles?”
Huerta highlighted that, if McDonnell’s nomination as the new LAPD chief moved forward, they would ask him to repair and rebuild trust with the community, and that the authorities respond “with a sanctuary ordinance” to the vulnerability of the immigrant community.
Additionally, he called on Mayor Bass to “seize the moment to build a city where we can all be proud to ensure that the Los Angeles Police Department does not become an anti-immigrant police force.”
Questioned about the demonstration in front of the mayor’s office – during the unveiling of an image of the deceased baseball player, Fernando Valenzuela, and the opposition of civil rights organizations led by CHIRLA – about Jim McDonnell, Councilman Kevin de León (District 14 ), author of Law SB-54 said: “It is a separate group, but CHIRLA does not represent all of them, the Latino people.”
On October 4, Mayor Karen Bass announced McDonnell as her choice to lead the LAPD, replacing former Chief Michel Moore, who retired in February. Dominic Choi has since served as interim chief.
McDonnell was one of three finalists for the job, along with Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides and former Deputy Chief Robert ‘Bobby’ Arcos, who has been working as chief of investigations in District Attorney George Gascón’s office.
More than nice words…a law of protection
In June 2023, District One Councilwoman Eunisses Hernández and her colleague Hugo Martínez-Soto (District 13) presented the already approved motion to make Los Angeles a “Sanctuary City,” but, 16 months away, not even A draft of it has been presented to the full council.
“Every day, more than 1.3 million migrants here in the city of Los Angeles are waiting for the city to take action, for us to implement protections for them,” said Hernández, who echoed Mayor Bass’ message on National Migrant Day. .
“No matter where you come from or what language you speak, Los Angeles is proud to be a welcoming city for all.”
Hernández said that communities do need words to motivate them, “but now we need more than words, we need a law that makes the city of Los Angeles, a city of true sanctuary.”
The councilwoman recalled that Los Angeles was the epicenter of deportations, racial profiling, and broken families because of people who were deported from the county jails managed by Jim McDonnell.
“We cannot let that happen again,” he said, and insisted on the need for the “Sanctuary City” ordinance to be approved, applied and established as law “to take care of our families and keep them together.”
“The fear that is running through our immigrant community, especially before one of the most important elections of our lives, is very real and palpable,” was the reaction of Mayor Karen Bass.
“I have seen that fear firsthand. There are strict protections for Los Angeles immigrants, which I fully support and I know that Chief McDonnell also respects these policies and will work to protect all communities in Los Angeles,” said Bass.
“He has promised to build trust and keep all of our communities safe, including the immigrant community, and I know he will do that.”